No. 7 Nebraska Topples Utah

Lincoln ? The No. 7 Nebraska women’s gymnastics team posted a score of 196.675 to upset fifth-ranked Utah (196.10) Sunday afternoon at the BobDevaneySportsCenter. In front of a crowd of 1,142 fans, the 14-3 Huskers scored a 49.0 or better on all four events and took four of the five individual event titles.

 

Junior Emily Parsons captured four individual crowns, finishing first on vault (9.925), beam (9.95), floor (9.925) and the all-around (39.575). Parsons’ all-around score was her highest total of the season, while her bars score tied her season best and her beam mark tied her career high. Sophomore Kylie Stone tied with Parsons for the floor title, while junior Desire’ Sniatynski placed second in the all-around with a 39.225. 

 

“Emily winning the all-around today was huge,” head coach Dan Kendig said. “She did an awesome job, and she and Kylie Stone were both excellent on floor. Kylie just has an outstanding routine with huge tumbling, great presentation and good dance all the way through. Those are the kind of routines that we’ll need to challenge at championship meets.”

 

Nebraska opened the meet on vault, where Parsons set the pace with a 9.925 to take her first event crown. Zabawa added a score of 9.85 to grab fourth-place honors, and Stone followed up with a 9.825 to place fifth. Sniatynski and senior Stephanie Carter added matching marks of 9.75 for sixth, bringing NU to an event score of 49.10, just behind Utah’s first-rotation bars total of 49.275.

 

The Huskers then moved on to bars and were led by Sniatynski’s second-place 9.875. Senior Michele Zabawa earned a 9.85 to finish fifth, while Stone and junior Brittney Williams tied for sixth with a pair of 9.80s. Parsons and Carter also notched a pair of 9.775 scores to achieve season and career highs, respectively, helping Nebraska finish the rotation with a 49.10 event score and a running score of 98.20 to gain closer to the Utes (98.225).

 

NU continued on to the third rotation on beam, where Parsons led the way with a career-high-tying score of 9.95, and sophomore Tricia Woo was close behind with a career-best 9.925. Freshman Kathryn Howard’s performance earned her a 9.825 for third-place honors, while Sniatynski tallied a 9.80 to finish sixth, and freshman Maria Scaffidi scored a 9.625. The Huskers finished the rotation with a 49.125 and a running score of 147.325 to take the lead over Utah (147.25).

 

Nebraska capped the afternoon on floor, where Parsons and Stone walked away with a tie for the event title with a pair of 9.925 scores, including a career-best tie for Stone. Carter took a 9.85 for her performance to place fourth, and Scaffidi and Woo notched a 9.825 apiece to finish in fifth. NU finished with an event score of 49.35 ? their second highest of the year on floor ? and a final team total of 196.675 to seal the win over Utah, which totaled a 196.10 on the day.

 

“We had a good day today,” Kendig said. “We competed well at home, and I’m proud of the way we hit so many routines on vault and bars to get a good start. We’re going to continue to work landings and being aggressive on bars. I was also really proud of our beam team for the way they picked it up at the end, and we finished so strong on floor. It was great to see a meet finish like this.

 

“Now we move our focus to IowaState for next weekend. With this being a conference meet and how well we competed in Ames earlier this year, we need to do the same thing here at home. I’m looking forward to seeing us finish this three-week stretch at home on a high note.”

 

Nebraska wraps up its three-meet home stand with No. 10 Iowa State next Sunday, March 11 at the BobDevaneySportsCenter. Competition is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.

 

Name                                     Vault      Bars       Beam     Floor       All-Around

Stephanie Carter                 9.75        9.775                      9.85

Kathryn Howard                                                   9.825     

Sabrina Long                      

Vanessa Meloche                                              

Molly Ohnoutka                   

Emily Parsons                     9.925      9.775      9.95        9.925      39.575

Maria Scaffidi                        9.675                      9.625      9.825     

Desire’ Sniatynski                9.75        9.875      9.80        9.80        39.225

Kylie Stone                            9.825      9.80        9.20        9.925      38.75

Brittney Williams                                  9.80       

Tricia Woo                                                             9.925      9.825

Michele Zabawa                  9.85        9.85       

 

Team Scores                       Vault      Bars       Beam     Floor       Total

Nebraska                            49.10      49.10      49.125   49.35      196.675

Utah                                   48.95      49.275   48.85      49.025   196.10

 

All-Around: 1. Emily Parsons, NU (39.575); 2. Desire’ Sniatynski, NU (39.225); 3. Ashley Postell, Utah (38.90); 4. Kylie Stone, NU (38.75)

 

Vault: 1. Emily Parsons, NU (9.925); 2. Kristina Baskett, Utah (9.90); 3. Ashley Postell, Utah (9.875); 4. Michele Zabawa, NU (9.85); 5. Kylie Stone, NU (9.825

 

Bars: 1. Kristina Baskett, Utah (9.925); 2. Desire’ Sniatynski, NU (9.875), JessicaDuke, Utah (9.875), Ashley Postell, Utah (9.875); 5. Michele Zabawa, NU (9.85)

 

Beam: 1. Emily Parsons, NU (9.95); 2. Tricia Woo, NU (9.925); 3. Kathryn Howard, NU (9.825), Sarah Shire, Utah (9.825), Nina Kim, Utah (9.825)

 

Floor: 1. Emily Parsons, NU (9.925), Kylie Stone, NU (9.925); 3. Ashley Postell, Utah (9.90); 4. Stephanie Carter, NU (9.85), Tricia Woo, NU (9.85)